Mississippi native Joyce Ladner, who was mentored by NAACP leader Medgar Evers before he was assassinated in 1963, said she will no longer attend because Trump opposes what activists fought and died for in the civil rights movement.

"What would Medgar Evers think?" she asked. "How would Chaney, Schwerner and Goodman feel?" James Chaney, Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman were three civil rights workers killed by the Ku Klux Klan in Mississippi in 1964.

Rickey Cole, a leader in the Mississippi Democratic Party, is also staying away.

He tweeted, “Bringing 45 to the Civil Rights Museum is like bringing Jane Fonda to the Legion Hut.”

Mississippi NAACP President Charles Hampton asked Bryant to rescind his invitation to Trump.

“At a time when this state and country will reflect upon the sacrifices made by those known and unknown in Mississippi for the struggle for civil rights, an invitation to a president that has aimed to divide this nation is not becoming of this historic moment,” Hampton said.

He cited the dismantling of the Affordable Care Act that provides many Mississippians with access affordable health care and “a full-blown attack on voting rights by limiting access to the right to vote are not reflective of core civil rights principles.”

Dennis Dahmer, son of Vernon Dahmer Sr., a civil-rights leader killed 50 years ago when Ku Klux Klansmen firebombed his family's home and businesses near Hattiesburg, addresses the Mississippi Legislature in the Senate chamber, Friday, Jan. 8, 2016, at the Capitol in Jackson, Miss. The ceremony is the latest in a long effort by Mississippi officials to recognize the troubled racial history of a state that still displays the Confederate battle emblem on its flag. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)(Photo: AP)

Jacqueline R. Amos, field director of the Mississippi Democratic Party, echoed that sentiment, saying, "Any reasonable person knows that the presence of such a hugely divisive and polarizing figure will pervert and diminish what could otherwise be a healing and teaching moment for our state.

"Mr. Trump attained to the highest office in the land by appeals and tactics that do great and lasting violence to our civil rights heritage. His campaign appealed to the very worst demons of the American soul."

Dennis Dahmer, whose father Vernon Dahmer, was killed by the KKK in 1966 in Hattiesburg, said he plans to attend.

“I will be in attendance to make sure that the focus of this event, specifically the Civil Rights Museum part of it, does not get redefined, clouded or turned into some type of photo opportunity for a U.S. sitting president looking for a ‘feel-good’ crowd,” he said.

He said he knows a lot of Trump supporters will attend, but he believes some of them are having reservations about the man they voted into office.

“I will not let Trump, Bryant or anyone else define the who, what and why of Vernon F. Dahmer Sr. and others’ commitment and legacy pertaining to the civil rights movement,” he said.

He recalled the sacrifices of his father, civil rights martyrs and others who “are not here today.”

He plans to show up at the museum’s opening Saturday to make sure his father is remembered, he said. “I will stand up for Vernon F. Dahmer Sr. just like he stood up for us during the early hours of January 10, 1966, since he is not here to stand up for himself.”

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Mississippi Civil Rights Museum Director Pamela Junior talks about the new museum's central exhibition before presenting a question which may provoke introspection in visitors.
Sarah Warnock

Jeff Steinberg, founder of Sojourn to the Past, which takes students on a weeklong trip to visit civil rights sites and visit those who made history, including the Dahmer family.

Even if Trump shows up, Steinberg said he still plans to attend the opening of the civil rights museum.

“I’m coming to honor my dear friends — the Evers family, the Dahmer family, Angela Lewis’ father, James Chaney,” he said. “American freedom wasn’t founded in the 1770s — it was founded in the 1950s and 1960s.”

If Trump does speak, Steinberg said he plans to protest by taking a knee.

My Dixie Alliance, which is pushing for an amendment to the Mississippi Constitution that would force those receiving state funding to fly the state flag, has announced it will attend Saturday.

So will Organizing for Action Mississippi, which is holding a Rally Against Hate and protesting that same flag.

Mississippi’s civil rights museum is the nation’s first such state-sponsored civil rights museum. The state spent $90 million on the museums, and another $19 million was privately raised for exhibits and endowments.

The museums will open with a ceremony beginning at 11 a.m. Saturday on the grounds at 222 North St., a block west of the Mississippi State Fairgrounds.

Speakers will include the widow of Medgar Evers, Myrlie Evers, as well as U.S. Rep. John Lewis, Bryant and former governors Haley Barbour and William F. Winter.

She said she hopes through the museums, people will learn about the past, learn about her late husband, Medgar, and other freedom fighters, and “how to move on to make this state and country greater than they are.”

She said she desires that “regardless of race, color and creed, we can come together, and one day override the negative comments and negative acts that still take place in our society and that through this museum, America will be stronger and a better place for all its citizens, regardless of leadership.”